Miracle
cures, health tonics, super foods—these sorts of cure-alls have always
proved irresistible to Americans. Eager to adopt the next lifesaving physic,
we’ve downed countless potions, brews, tonics and tablets in pursuit of
longevity, fitness, beauty, happiness—or, preferably, all of the above.
Some were relatively harmless and maybe even beneficial; others were downright
dangerous. Here are some of the most fascinating—and terrifying—miracle
remedies Americans have embraced.
Meat juice. (Really.)
“Dear Sir: I
have been using your 'Meat Juice' on different cases in this Hospital. It has
more than answered my expectations,” wrote Dr. Walter Reed to Mann S. Valentine
on April 16, 1872. “I find that patients improve rapidly in appetite and
strength under its administration. Of all the various preparations of Meat that
I have met with and used, I consider yours by far the most serviceable.”
“It is par
excellence the medicine food of the age,” agreed Dr. W.M. Brodie some months
later, in February of 1873. “One lady has used a dozen bottles, and does not
tire of it.”
